Important Quotations Explained

Study Questions & Essay Topics

date of first publication · Published in weekly serial form between April 20, 1859,
and November 26, 1859

publisher · Chapman and Hall

narrator · The narrator is anonymous and can be thought of as
Dickens himself. The narrator maintains a clear sympathy for the
story’s morally good characters, including Sydney Carton, Charles Darnay,
Doctor Manette, and Lucie Manette. Though he criti-cizes ruthless
and hateful figures such as Madame Defarge, who cannot appreciate
love, he understands that oppression has made these characters the
bloodthirsty creatures they have become.

point of view · The narrator speaks in the third person, deftly switching
his focus between cities and among several characters. The narrator is
also omniscient—not only revealing the thoughts, emotions, and motives
of the characters, but also supplying historical context to the
events that occur, commenting confidently upon them.

major conflict · Madame Defarge seeks revenge against Darnay for his
relation to the odious Marquis Evrémonde; Carton, Manette, Lucie,
and Jarvis Lorry strive to protect Darnay from the bloodthirsty revolutionaries’
guillotine.

rising action · The ongoing murder of aristocrats after the storming
of the Bastille; Darnay’s decision to go to Paris to save Gabelle;
the Defarges’ demand that Darnay be arrested

climax · During a court trial, Defarge reads aloud a letter
that he has discovered, which Manette wrote during his imprisonment
in the Bastille and which indicts Darnay as a member of the cruel aristocratic
lineage of Evrémonde (Book the Third, Chapter 10). In
this climactic moment, it becomes clear that Madame Defarge’s overzealous
hatred of Darnay can end only in death—either his or hers.

falling action · The jury’s sentencing of Darnay to death; Darnay’s
wish that Manette not blame himself; Carton’s decision to sacrifice
his life to save Darnay

themes · The ever-present possibility of resurrection; the necessity
of sacrifice; the tendency toward violence and oppression in revolutionaries

motifs · Doubles; shadows and darkness; imprisonment

symbols · The wine that spills out of the cask in Book the First,
Chapter 5, symbolizes the peasants’ hunger
and the blood that will be let when the revolution comes into full
swing; Madame Defarge’s knitting symbolizes the vengefulness of
the common people; the Marquis is a symbol of pure evil—the Gorgon’s
head symbolizes his absolute coldness toward the suffering of the
poor.

foreshadowing · The wine cask breaking outside Defarge’s wine shop;
the echoing footsteps in the Manettes’ sitting room; the resemblance between
Carton and Darnay; Carton’s indication of this resemblance in a
London court, which results in Darnay’s acquittal; Doctor Manette’s
reaction after learning Darnay’s true identity